Study on Trace Elements Concentration in Medicinal Plants Using EDXRF Technique
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Study on Trace Elements Concentration in Medicinal Plants Using EDXRF Technique Chandrashekara Kulal 1 & Ranjib Kumar Padhi 2 & Kanagasabapathy Venkatraj 2 & Kamala Kantha Satpathy 2 & Somashekarappa Hiriyuru Mallaya 3 Received: 25 October 2019 / Accepted: 7 January 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Ten medicinal plants used as ingredients of folklore and Ayurvedic medicine belonging to the Malnad Kerala region of South India, were analysed for concentrations of trace elements Fe, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, and Pb using the Energy Dispersive Xray Fluorescence (EDXRF) technique. The soil from the root area of these medicinal plants was also analysed, and the soil to plant transfer factor (TF) of the elements was estimated. Iron (Fe) recorded higher concentration than the other trace elements estimated in the medicinal plants, followed by manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn). The mean TF was found to be highest for Zn. Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng recorded the maximum value of TF for Zn. Most of the essential elements were found to be present in Centella asiatica (L.) Urban and indicated its medicinal importance. The data obtained in the present investigation may add up to the trace elemental database of medicinal plants in the world. Keywords Medicinal plants . Trace elements . Folklore medicine . Soil to plant transfer factor
Introduction Folklore and Ayurvedic systems are age-old practices of medicine not only in India but also in many other countries of the world. There are many references to the curative properties of medicinal plants in ancient Indian literature. ‘Charakasamhitha’, ‘Rigveda’, ‘Atherveda’, and ‘Sushrutha samhitha’ are the major literatures of the Ayurvedic system [1]. Thus, the folklore and Ayurvedic systems of medicine have been identified as the legacy of ancient tradition. One of the distinct features of these medicinal systems is the fact that almost all medicinal plants are used in ministrations related to multi-disease, and even regional discrepancy in diagnosis and therapy cannot be ruled out. The organic and chemical constituents of the medicinal plants are mainly formulated by the trace elements. Elements
* Chandrashekara Kulal [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Department of Physics, St. Philomena College, Puttur 574 202, India
2
Environment and Safety Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, 603 102, Kalpakkam, India
3
University Science and Instrumentation Centre, Mangalore University, Mngalagangotri 574 199, India
that nourish living beings are termed as nutrients or essential elements. Trace elements play a major role in the therapeutic action of medicinal plants; the elevated concentrations of which sometimes may result in toxicity of the medicine [2, 3]. The trace elements, which can be lethal to human beings even at low concentrations, are toxic elements. The concentration of trace elements in plants depends on several factors such as their concentration in the soil, the biological requiremen
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